Perspective

The book is written from the first person perspective of Eldridge Cleaver, an inmate in Folsom Prison in 1965 when the civil rights movement and Vietnam Conflict were major American issues. With one exception - a single letter from Cleaver's attorney - the entire work is from Cleaver's own hand. The author talks extensively of events and people important to the civil rights movement of the mid to late 1960s. While it's an incredibly effective tool, younger readers - who did not live during that era - may miss some of the finer points of the writing. Many of the references likely have a deeper impact for readers who remember the 1960s and the civil unrest than for those who have only second-hand knowledge of the time.

The writing is sometimes convoluted with the author making obscure references that are difficult to understand and difficult to put into perspective...